An entire police department just got pulled off the streets of Cincinnati after an officer killed an unarmed man

Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, right, after leaving funeral services for Samuel Dubose at the Church of the Living God in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati on July 28.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
A city-council committee in Cincinnati has voted to bar the University of Cincinnati Police Department (UCPD) from patrolling city streets.

The news station FOX19 reports that the move stems from an ongoing investigation into the university police department's practices regarding traffic stops.

According to a report compiled by the University of Cincinnati and obtained by FOX19, the Cincinnati Police Department and city officials entered an agreement with the UCPD in December 2013.

That agreement allowed campus officers to patrol some police districts within the city.

The agreement stipulates that city traffic stops by campus cops were limited to "serious traffic offenses" only — the type that "jeopardizes public safety," according to the agreement.

Questions about UCPD's handling of traffic stops have become more pertinent since the indictment of former UCPD officer Ray Tensing, who faces murder charges related to the fatal shooting of an unarmed man during a traffic stop last month.

Tensing pulled over 43-year-old Samuel Dubose on July 19 for driving without a front license plate. The encounter escalated, and as Dubose prepared to drive away, Tensing shot him in the head, killing him.

Tensing has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing seen after Dubose was shot during a traffic stop in Cincinnati on July 19.
REUTERS/Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office
The report detailing UCPD's traffic stops shows a dramatically increasing number of stops made by campus officers since 2013.

More than 2,000 stops were initiated this year — a sizable jump over 2014 (1,453), and nearly three times as many as in 2013 (713). Tickets were issued in about half of all of those cases each year.

Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell addressed the campus police department's traffic stops in a meeting with the city's Law and Public Safety Committee on Monday. He acknowledged the focus of campus police had "gradually turned to traffic enforcement" and said "that's something that needs to stop."

Blackwell standing across the street from protesters in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati on July 28.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
In the case of UCPD, officials have also raised concerns about potential racial disparities surrounding the traffic stops. FOX19 reports that the number of black people who encountered UCPD officers "quadrupled from 633 in all of 2013 to 2,354 from January 1, 2015, to July 27, 2015."

During a FOX19 interview this week, city-council member Kevin Flynn expressed dismay at those numbers: "How can that be? In a limited area. We're not even talking all of the city of Cincinnati."

Blackwell agreed, saying: "I can't lie — I'm a little bit concerned about the numbers and the discrepancy in the culture and race of the drivers that are stopped."